Improvement in fruit-pickers



J. HOLMANV Fruit-Picker.

No. 203,457. PatentedM ay 7,1878.

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, being bent into the wood.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFF-Ion,

JOHN HOLMAN, OF ROCHESTER, KENTUCKY.

IMPROVEMENT IN FRUIT-PICKERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 203,457, dated May 7,1878; application filed February 23, 1878.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN HOLMAN, of Rochester, in the county of Butlerand State of Kentucky, have invented anew and valuable Improvement inFruit-Pickers; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of thesame, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of thisspecification, and to the letters and figures of reference markedthereon.

The figure of the drawings is a perspective view of my fruit-picker.

The nature of my invention consists in the construction and arr-an gement of a fruit-picker, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth.

The annexed drawing, to which reference is made, fully illustrates myinvention.

A represents the wooden staff or handle of my fruit-picker, which may bemade of any desired length, and may have suitable couplings connected toit, so that it can be extended by attaching it to poles of differentlengths.

At the upper end of the staff A is attached a circle, B, made of onepiece of wire, having its ends bent downward along the sides of thestaff, as shown at b b, the extreme ends The arms b b are held to thestaff A by staples a a. fastened in the wood, as shown.

The circle B is supported in a horizontal position by means of wirebraces O G, and to said circle is to be attached a bag or sack forreceiving the fruit.

D represents a semicircular jaw, made of one piece of wire, one endattached to the center of the circle B, and the other end passing downthefront of the staff A, to which it is permanently secured by havingits extreme end fastened into the wood, and by a staple, d, secured onthe end of the staff, as shown. This jaw ,D thus is stationary, and eachend of the wire forming said jaw is bent to form an eye, 0, in which isconnected the ends of a similar jaw, D, also made of a single piece ofwire, and capable of being turnedto and from the stationary jaw D.

On the front of the staff A is pivoted an elbow-lever, F, made of asingle piece of wire, bent to form an eye for the passage of thepivoting-screw. One arm of this wire lever is connected to the movablejaw D, while to the other arm is connected a wire, I, which is to extenddown the stafi and handle through suitable guide-staples.

By pulling the wire I the jaw D opens, when the-device is extended upinto the tree and receives the apple in the jaws. Then by a small pushof the wire the jaw D closes on the apple, so that by a slight pull withthe staff the apple comes loose and falls through the circle in to thebag or sack connected thereto.

In a full sized machine each jaw is to be covered with soft leather, toprevent them from hanging on the limbs of the tree. The movable jawshould be made a trifle smaller, so as to pass slightly under thestationary jaw, and said stationary jaw should be braced by a wire fromthe circle B.

It will thus be seen that the entire fruitpicker is made of wire, makingthe same very light, and also cheap to manufacture.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a fruit-picker, a skeleton-frame consisting of the wire circle B,having its ends bent downward along the side of the staff, the extremeends being bent into the wood and secured thereto by staples a, andsupported in a horizontal position by means of Wire braces O O, the wiresemicircular stationary jaw with eyes 6, one end of which is attached tothe center of the circle, and the other end passing down the front ofthe staff to which it is secured, and the semicircular movable jaws Dconnected to the eyes of the stationary jaw, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with the skeleton-frame,

constructed substantially as hereinbefore described, of the elbow-leverF, made of a single piece of wire, bent to form an eye for the passageof the pivoting-screw and connected 7 to the movable jaw D, andoperating-wire I, substantially as described, and for the purpose setforth.

In testimony that I claim the above I have hereunto subscribed my namein the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN HOLMAN.

